First colonoscopy - Very scared

I am not Canadian but in the US they use at least double the sedation for a colonoscopy. Just make sure they know that you want to have no pain. They use 2 different things here. I don't think they use Versed where I go as I noticed a different name last time. If for some reason you feel something at least you will be able to tell them and they can increase the flow of the sedation. I have had friends that were awake the whole time but they tried that once with me and I wouldn't do that again. I have had 4 and been totally out for 3 and sort of in and out for the others but no pain those times. Be firm that you want to be out.

Hi ally-oop,
Welcome to HealingWell!!
(I'm not Canadian.)
I, like you, was super scared when I got the news of having to be scoped (doc asked for upper and lower scopes). I have a fear of puking and I thought for sure the prep was going to make me sick as a dog. Then I started to worry about strangers looking at (and up!) my butt. Then came the sedation part... Would it work?

As I was checking into the clinic I could feel my heart pounding through my chest. I was so scared. After getting prepped (gown, IV, monitors, etc.) the docs wheeled out an elderly woman and put her next to me. She was groggy and had just come from being scoped. Almost immediately she began farting! That freaked me out! I don't like to advertise that I have gas, so I was worried that would be me next. I had images of me farting all the way home. Anyway, I got wheeled into "the room" and immediately started receiving the sedation meds. I believe the meds put you in what's called a "twilight sleep." I was in and out for the upper endoscopy - I clearly remember gagging. But for the colonoscopy, I'm positive they pushed more meds because I only woke up once to turn over, which I hardly remember. Practically zero pain.

And yes, afterwards you do have some gas. Before I got put under I jokingly told my doc I didn't want to be tooting all day like my elderly bed-neighbor. Afterwards, doc told me she was able to suck out a lot of the air she had blown in. I thought that was nice of her. Maybe you can share all your concerns with your doc and s/he will be just as accommodating.

Looking back, the worst part is the prep. It sucks to starve, drink foul tasting laxatives, and to be stuck in the bathroom with a sore bum all day and night. After that, the scope is a breeze.

GOOD LUCK!!!! Please report back on how it goes.

PS - A word of advice... Get yourself some baby wipes and/or medicated hemorrhoid wipes for your butt during the prep. It really starts to hurt after so many trips to the bathroom.

I've had 7 colonoscopies. I've never felt a thing. Sometimes I feel as though the sedation isn't taking hold yet and I ask them not to start but it's only about 5 seconds and then I must be "out". Because the next thing I remember is the recovery room.

They will give you Versid, which is also called Twilight Sleep. It's what they gave women in labor & delivery, decades ago (long before natural birth became popular and then epidurals). You will be sedated, not remember a thing but alert enough to cooperate (turning this way or that, drawing your knees up, etc. so they can get a better look at your colon).

Sometimes if you're nauseous they'll give you Phenergan (which makes you sleepy, another nice benefit). The two combined for me work like a charm - I have never felt any part of my scopes.

I will tell you that when you often hear people talk about what an ordeal their colonoscopy was, they are almost always referring to the day before, when you do your prep. Not the actual procedure.

After it's over, go easy on liquids. I would suggest you sip water. Don't guzzle it. Go easy on foods too - saltines, pretzels, etc. are good at first. Then a light lunch (soup, half sandwich), by dinner you should be eating full meals again.

I was so thirsty in recovery once, I downed a full glass of Coke. It all came right up but conveniently after I had dressed, almost ready to go home. Yes, it went everywhere and I was a mess. So I've learned the hard way, the first hour or two after a colonoscopy, I just feel better if I return to liquids and solids, in moderation.

Wishing you the best.

Marsky/Mary

I just had my first colonoscopy on mon here in the USA, and if you have fleet drink it with cold kool-aid lemonade trust me you will not taste the difference. They used Versed with demerol for pain, and i dont remember a thing. When I was being wheeled in the procedure room  I said "stop I dont want to do this" and then we proceded into the room, where there was loud music playing and they said we are giving you the demerol now in your iv, well that is the last thing I remember. Piece of cake. I woke up really groggy in the recovery room with a little gas not much and then went home and slept for a couple hrs then I was totally fine. They found polyps and I am only 40 so not at the age of a screening but have been having problems with diverticulosis, so all in all I am glad that I got it done it was so worth it just to find out about the polyps. Good luck and if you are in the least bit uncomfortable ask for more drugs. I agree also wish we could have that drug out here that was sort of fun.

Hi To_My_Health,
Welcome to HealingWell!

I think it's safe to say you won't be having a BM tonight. Most likely it will take at least a couple days. I didn't go until day 5 after my scope.

Good luck and have fun at the concert!

Hey All, Thanks for responding back, Canyonbabe & 7Lil! Okay - it was at The Hollywood Bowl and Cheap Trick (and friends) tonight with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony performing the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was spectacular! NO having to rush to the ladies 'room to do my business, either - yay!

I had been having stomach distress with irregular bowels for about 6 months, and finally I got my colonoscopy and endoscopy referral. Finally went in to see my doc and she said it might be Celiac disease or something more sinister, but she doubted it. I am an anxious person by nature, so I pay with my digestive tract (I'm working on that). I got the bowel prep kit from the pharmacist, but only after refusing to take the Half Lytely kit - I said I would not pay $50 for a one-shot treatment that could be gotten some other way. The pharmacist said to call my doc and see what else could be done - no problem - they said to get a TriLytely kit, which is the same basic thing but better - $15 better - that's all it cost, and the pharmacist sold me 2 dulcolax pills for $.98 for both - this is the same thing as the other, but it's not a namebrand. PLUS with this TriLytely kit you can eat a normal breakfast and a light lunch, then you start downing the "juice" at around 4 or 5pm - the doc said I could stop drinking the stuff after my bowels run clear(ish) - so I did! THEN you take the 2 dulcolax pills, and you're good to go. NOTHING to eat or drink the next day - nothing after midnight the night before the procedure. HINT: I chose the berry-citrus flavoring, mixed it the night before to make sure it was really cold, then I downed each one-cup dose each 10 minutes WITH A STRAW - makes it go down easier, NOT that it's really all that bad. It tastes like thicker mineral water that was brewed with a brand new sock, so a little chemical-ly, but not as bad as everyone says it is - at least, not the TriLytely, anyhow. I started clearing out just over an hour after the first dose. I went in for my procedure the next day and they put me on the bed for prep - asked me questions about my last ingestion of food or liquid and other things, took my blood pressure, hooked me up to the heart monitor and oxygenation thing on my finger, and (eeewww) started me on the i.v. drip for fluids & drugs. She put me on saline, which was great, 'cause I was dehydrated, of course. They wheeled me into the procedure room and after about 25 minutes of sitting there freezing in anxiety and boredom I asked for something for my anxiety, so they started my Versed (sp?). After another few minutes, the anesthesiologist came in and asked me the same series of questions as the prep nurse, put an oxygen mask on me, and apparently pushed some effective gas thru there, 'cause that's the last I remember. I was GONE - they did the colonoscopy and the endoscopy knowing of no thing and no pain or discomfort and I was woken up around 45 minutes later in another room very groggy and headachey. They gently asked me to get up, and I put my clothes on and they told me they found NOTHING in my colon and nothing in my stomach but a tiny hiatal hernia and a teensy erythema, which is a little patch of irritation. They took a smidge of my stomach for biopsy, which is apparently routine, and I'll get the results back from that in a few weeks. Did anyone else have a tiny piece of their stomach biopsied in an endoscopy? Anyway, they gave me some apple juice and saltines and I was groggy, but able to sit up and walk and go to the bathroom by myself. I had another little watery bowel movement, which contained a few clots of blood, which they said to expect - no big deal. They gave me actual photos of my --- umm - parts outside of my colon, inside some areas of my colon, as well as pictures of parts of my stomach. Cool! These pics had descriptions of the procedures and the findings, plus what to expect afterwards. I was told to go home and eat something light and sleeeeeep - so I did. Woke up and ate more, watched some tv and went to bed. No BM today, but I'm hopeful for tomorrow!

Everyone who has stomach or colon distress should get a colonoscopy - you never know that everything's really okay unless you do this, and it's not that big a deal, people. Just do it!

Hi Health,
Biopsies of the stomach, upper and lower intestine are common and expected during these procedures. I'm glad you got through it okay...they are never fun! I have had 4-5 scopes myself, usually an EGD and colonoscopy combined. The last time I had one done they used a balloon enteroscope, which is some cool new technology that allows them to pass the upper scope all the way into the jejunum (second part of the intestine - usually they can only reach the top of the duodenum, the first part of the intestine).

Sounds like you're taking good care of yourself post-scope. Good luck and let us know how it turns out for you!

Ohhh Sarita -- thank you sooo much for putting my mind at ease. I wasn't sure I was supposed to be fretting about them having taken these biopsies or not! I thought they were routine, but they might have just told me that to ease my (continually) worried mind. The report said exactly this;

A diminutive hiatal hernia was found. Z line at approx 40 cm. Gastropathy - patchy erythema - was found. Biopsies of the antrum and the body of the stomach were obtained and sent to pathology. The duodenal bulb was normal in appearance, as was the postbulbar duodenum. Multiple biopsies were botained from the second duodenum and sent to pathology to r/u celiac disease. Retroflexed views revealed no abnormalities. The scope was then completely withdrawn and the procedure terminated...

This is all routine, right? Please say I have nothing to worry about. The blood test was normal and didn't show any Celiac antibodies present, thank goodness!

And, I've had 2 big meals today and 2 yesterday, and still no movement of bowels. When in the world will I have some relief? I had a big salad, then a plate of potstickers and broccoli, then a bowl of ice cream - this has got to get moving, or I'm gonna' explode!

Thanks for your help -

TMH -

 

AJ, I didn't have a lot of soreness after my enteroscope, but then again, I have lived in complete denial for a long time and don't trust pretty much anything my body is trying to tell me! However, I would say that the extreme abdominal tenderness warrants a call to the doc, just to make sure. 1000 sit-ups is just too miserable to imagine!

I tell people things like this all the time too, I've had at least 10 colonoscopies and a few Flex-sigs. Also a rectal ultrasound (that lasted over an hour).

People are petrified of this procedure so I try to assure them 99.9% of the time the horror stories they hear pertain to the bowel prep, done the day before. I do wish that Picolax would be approved in the US - you can work on that ibs-help-online, okay? I will put you in charge of that task.....lol It sounds as if Picolax is by far the easiest bowel prep to use.

I also quietly tell anyone I know who has turned 50 to get a colonoscopy. At first they say - naw, I won't do that. But then I launch into my cancer story (rectal cancer, at age 43) and then they agree to at least think about booking an appt. I've personally been able to get about 15 people into the doctor in the past 10 years. I never let up. My boss is turning 50 next Tuesday. When we have a quiet moment, I'm going to get serious and remind her, it's time......she never wants to take off work though. I predict that will be my hardest sell and another wish as a patient to a doc - I wish you guys would offer colonoscopies on Saturdays! Not only for the patient's schedule but their driver's schedule. You're working around two work schedules - the patient and the driver.

Okay, my little patient rant is over......you are doing a good thing here by responding to our topics doc. As you said in another post, you're not all bad. LOL